You're an April Fool, Connor Stoll!
by Marilyn del Forte
Summary: It was obvious by the flinching of the other campers that they too were nervous for April Fool's Day. This was all because of three people: Connor Stoll, Travis Stoll, and their half-brother Cecil.


So… This is a bit late for April Fools, huh? I wrote this for my creative writing club for the April prompt and just found it. So I figured I would upload it! If you like it, please comment (or maybe favourite) the story? And if you want to check out my PJO blog, the url is vexed-victor at tumblr!

The sun crept up over the hill with it's usual grandeur, basking light over the variety of cabins strewn over the property. The strawberries, beneath the sun, seemed to leap to life. By all means, the campers should have been stretching languidly as they woke. This morning, this was not the case. No one had slept that night. They were too anxious to even consider closing their eyes. Even the children of Hypnos were too wired to fall asleep.

It was April Fool's Day.

Many of the campers had barricaded their doors, save for those in cabin eleven. For at least a few years, the Hermes campers hadn't had to worry about being accosted by their siblings. Chiron had put a stop to that during the Prank War of 2005- which ended with no less than ten fires and more broken bones than you could attempt to count.

In fact, a majority of cabin eleven sat back and allowed their more mischievous siblings to do their duty as children of Hermes. These siblings were namely the twins, Travis and Connor Stoll, and their half-brother, Cecil Thompson. And do their duty they did, striking terror into the hearts of all the demigods in the camp, not to mention some of the immortal beings as well.

This was the reason that, as the sun crept over the hill, the harpies' shrieks were the only things to be heard. There were normally a few demigods, such as the counsellors, who woke early to get first dibs for the showers. The running of water was not an unusual sound at six thirty in the morning.

The bad thing about April Fools at Camp Halfblood was that most everyone was terrified that they would be pranked. So most campers refrained from anything that could be tweaked, including showers. It made for a rather stinky day.

Percy Jackson, who had been smart enough to shower the night before, yawned tiredly from his spot in the corner of his cabin. He spared a glance towards the stack of furniture barricading the door, and then moved his eyes to look at his girlfriend.

Annabeth was pulling a fresh orange tshirt over her head and he raised his eyebrows suggestively. She huffed. " It's nothing you haven't seen before, Seaweed Brain." she commented drily.

He shrugged. " I think breakfast just started." he told her.

Annabeth smirked. " Then go get some." It seemed that Percy's fear was a source of entertainment for the daughter of Athena, because as he paled her smirk grew.

" But..."

" Stop being such a baby. I'm sure no one else is this worked up about a prank." She, however, was wrong, and when they removed the various objects from the door, they looked out to see many of the other camp counselors peeking out of their doors cautiously.

It was true- They really had no clue what to expect from the teenagers this time.

As the campers all crossed the lawn to the pavilion for breakfast, the slightest sound caused the campers to flinch. Percy heard a snippet of conversation from a few Hephaestus campers.

" Please tell me you locked up the tools," said Nyssa.

Her half-brother, whose name Percy couldn't recall, gave her a glare that might curdle milk. " Of course. Unless you wanted our chainsaws to murder us, that is."

Annabeth breathed out from her spot beside him. " Isn't it funny that we're all afraid of a few teenage boys?"

" Funny that we're all afraid of the Stolls and Cecil? Not really."

The first part of breakfast went smoothly. Then all hades broke loose.

Annabeth had just asked Katie Gardner if she had had any prior knowledge as to what her boyfriend was planning, but the girl shook her head and frowned with regret.

" I wish I did," Katie told her. " I'm still afraid that something is gonna happen to my begonias- and I had them moved last night."

As she said this, Travis and his brother traipsed into the pavilion, sporting rubber duck pajamas and identical grins. As if they were cued, all the campers tried to move as far away as possible from the boys as they could.

The pavilion was dead quiet.

The campers watched as the boys made their offers into the bronze bowls and sat down normally. Cecil, it seemed, had arrived with the first batch of campers- After Connor had taken a few bites of his Captain Crunch, something occurred to him. He turned around in his seat and produced a wrapped box before handing the package to Katie's sister Miranda.

" Happy birthday, Miranda." He grinned. Her face drained of any blood she had. It was this moment that all the campers took cover beneath the tables.

Miranda's hands shook as she pulled the ribbon loose from its bow. Gods knew what was inside... She ripped the paper quickly and flipped up the lid.

She screamed. Percy squeezed his eyes shut and wrapped his arms around Annabeth's waist. She must have been nervous, because otherwise he would have been punched. When nothing happened, one eye opened and he peered over the table to see an... odd scene.

Miranda was staring into the box with distinct confusion, and the twins' faces mirrored the expression.

" What happened?" Hissed Connor into his brother's ear.

" I don't know. Did you do it right?" Travis returned.

" Did I do it right?" he echoed incredulously. It suddenly became clear to Percy, four seconds later than all the others, that the unimaginable had happened.

The prank had failed.

" What's in the box?" Asked Annabeth.

Miranda shook her head. " Nothing. There's just... Nothing."

" Nothing?!" The twins cried in unison.

" I thought you said-"

" I did, but-"

" Then how-?"

" I don't know!"

" What went wrong?!" They finished together.

There was a moment during which the brothers only stared at each other with perplextion. The next moment, Cecil was standing from his spot below the table. " That," he said. " would be me."

" Wait... But how?" Said Connor.

" I basically disarmed any prank you set."

" You what?!"

Travis' eyes traveled around the camp and paused on several spots. " A-all of them?" Cecil nodded.

" Every single one."

Connor fell to his knees. " You betrayed us!"

" What can I say, my brothers?" Cecil responded with a smile. " Your reign is over." He walked away and everyone watched. Lou Ellen, sitting beside Will and Nico, gave him a high five as he passed. And it was only because Percy was proud that he didn't laugh at the 'Prank Master' as he tripped over the leg of the table.


End file.
